Over the last week, one of the biggest stories to dominate the headline news has been the allegations that Bill O'Reilly reached a settlement with five women who accused him of sexual harassment. While Fox News has been relatively quiet on the issue, one host covered the scandal to close out his show.

Fox News' "rough week"

Last weekend, the New York Times broke a story that revealed that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly had been accused of sexual harassment by at least five women, while reaching a settlement of $13 million. The news comes as the network is still dealing with the aftermath of the Roger Ailes controversy, the former CEO and founder of the Fox News Channel who had been accused of sexual assault by various women, including many of whom were employed by the company in one way or another.

Since the New York Times story broke last weekend, over 50 sponsors have pulled their ads from running during the primetime "The O'Reilly Factor" show, with the host not speaking on the issue outside of a prepared statement released by his legal team. Despite this, the issue was discussed during the April 9 edition of "Mediabuzz" on Fox News.

Closing out Sunday morning's "Mediabuzz" on Fox News, host Howard Kurtz addressed the elephant in the room. "It's been a rough week of media coverage for Fox News," Kurtz said, before pointing out that the issues have been highlighted across cable news, with even President Donald Trump giving his thoughts.

"Much of the criticism follows that New York Times report that Bill O'Reilly, or the network, paid out $13 million to settle five cases against him alleging sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct."

(Longer version of the statement can be seen the video above.)

"This has been a difficult and uncomfortable period for the people who work here, no question about it," Howard Kutz admitted.

The host explained that Fox News was doing their best to "move on" and "change the culture" by making it clear that "any kind of harassment is unacceptable."

Next up

Despite calls for the network to fire the host, and with dozens of sponsors pulling their ads, Fox News appears willing to give Bill O'Reilly another chance and stick with him as long as they can.

As mentioned in Howard Kurtz' monologue, Donald Trump came to the defense of his friend, calling him a "good man," while doubting that any of the allegations actually took place. On Saturday night, Trump's relationship with O'Reilly was mocked during a segment on "Saturday Night Live" when actor Alec Baldwin played both satirical roles in poking fun at the history the two men have with sexual harassment allegations.
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